Talent Lead - Open Core Ventures

Talent Lead

Open Core Ventures (OCV) is looking for an exceptional talent leader to build and scale our CEO recruiting function. Your primary responsibility is to identify, attract, and close world-class founders for OCV companies. This role will also shape OCV's talent strategy, recruiting efforts, and build scalable People Function platform processes for our companies.

As a key member of our small but mighty team, you'll help us achieve our ambitious goal of launching 2,000 new companies per year. From sourcing founder CEOs to advising new companies on their first hire strategy, your work will directly impact the success of every company in the OCV portfolio.

What You'll Do

You will own the CEO recruiting process (scaling from 2 companies per month currently to 100+ companies per month in the future). You will leverage AI to build and source scalable talent pipelines and to automate workflows from ATS to reference checks and founder onboarding. You will build out recruiting platform processes (from interview guides to offer approvals) and tools (including external search firm relationships) to support OCV companies' early growth.

Who You Are

• A relationship-builder who thrives on connecting with high-caliber talent and can sell a compelling vision.
• Able to identify exceptional leadership potential and independently drive searches from start to finish.
• Passionate about startups, open source, and emerging technologies, with a strong drive to support founders.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and excited by the challenge of defining new roles for companies that don't yet exist.
• Process-driven and live for constant efficiency improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree.
• Proven track record of closing senior leadership hires at startups, venture-backed companies, or technology firms.
• Deep network within the venture ecosystem.
• Strong assessment skills and the ability to evaluate founder competencies and founder-company fit.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills.
• Experience working in fast-paced, high-growth environments; venture capital or startup studio experience is a plus.

About Open Core Ventures

Founded by Sid Sijbrandij, GitLab co-founder and Executive Chair, Open Core Ventures (OCV) starts companies around promising open source projects. We recruit the founders, often from the OSS project we're commercializing, and help them accelerate growth to raise a Seed round. We've started 30+ companies around open source projects, including Fleet, FlowFuse, and Mermaid Chart.

At Open Core Ventures, we operate in a transparent environment, with clear terms and open communication, guided by our public handbook.

The actual offer, reflecting the total compensation package and benefits, will be at the company's sole discretion and determined by a myriad of factors, including, but not limited to, years of experience, depth of experience, and other relevant business considerations. The company also reserves the right to amend or modify employee perks and benefits at any time.

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.